The Reggaeton star’s halftime show included countless nods to his homeland, including a reference to the island’s ongoing power crisis.
A moment during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime performance is an allusion to Puerto Rico’s frequent and devastating power outages, which the artist references in his song “El Apagón” — “The Blackout.”
Alex Nguyen explains in Mother Jones:
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Puerto Rico residents lost about 27 hours of power each year from 2021 to 2024—all without accounting for electricity failures from hurricanes or other major disasters. Over the past ten years, four hurricanes have dealt damage exceeding $1 billion in Puerto Rico. In comparison, residents in the mainland US experience about two hours of power loss each year.
Puerto Rico began to privatize power after a nearly year-long blackout in 2017 revealed corruption in the publicly-owned utility. But power outages continued to worsen while costs rose. Meanwhile, “The Trump administration has taken back federal funding designated to modernize the territory’s electrical grid. In January, the Department of Energy canceled $450 million for grid resilience programs, according to Latitude Media.”
According to an article by Keaton Peters for Straight Arrow News, “For the public that might have forgotten, Bad Bunny climbing the poles gave voice and visibility to an unforgettable instance of being powerless in Puerto Rico in a very literal sense,” said said Diana Hernandez, a professor and co-director of the Energy Opportunity Lab at the Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy.
FULL STORY: Here’s the Thing About Bad Bunny’s Light Poles
When can a power company take your land for data center infrastructure?
Meeting data center power demands will mean building more transmission lines and acquiring more land to put them on.
Seattle Density Increase Stymied by Underground Power Line Requirement
A new policy that requires buildings with four or more units to bury their electrical lines is making housing development more costly and causing months-long delays.
Texas Grapples with How to Power New Data Centers That Consume More Energy than Cities
The state’s utility grid operator is scrambling to adjust its planning processes to meet a skyrocketing number of interconnection requests.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
5 New England states march closer to 800 megawatt wind energy project
Securing federal approval for the project may be complicated under the Trump administration, which has historically been hostile towards domestic wind power.
Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project
The project will bring faster bus trips, safer streets and better bike connections to Baltimore.
Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin
The company will put $6.4 million towards affordable housing development in Texas’ capital.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association